


End Game Politics

by aidail



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Meta, Political analysis of the MCU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-25 23:42:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21364597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aidail/pseuds/aidail
Summary: Basically this is my 3am head canon for the various political arguments presented in the MCU
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	End Game Politics

Ok so bear with me. This is a very loose and rambling analysis of the MCU focuses specifically on Captain America and Iron Man, particularly in the Cap movies. 

So lets start with CA:WS. Here is Captain America aka Truth Freedom and the American Way (TFAW) alive and well in the modern era, except he’s not really well but he’s here and he’s doing his best. And look beside him is the Helpful Immigrant (Natasha) who realised the American Way™ is the best. Even better there are Ordinary Americans™ (Sam) who also support the American Way™. So everything is fine right? 

Except the institution that is supposed to keep Americans safe has been corrupted by the enemy from the inside. The Enemy is Inside the Walls*. So our Trio of Goodness has actually been working for the enemy! Oh no! But that’s ok, because together they can overcome the System and call on everyone who still believes in TFAW to stand up and overthrow the System, even if it means fighting out friends*. 

Moving on to Civil War. Well apparently, the Government doesn’t like the idea of Ordinary People overthrowing the System. Except now it’s not just the Insidious Evil that has grown inside the System, but it’s every Government. And so they’ve teamed up with Capitalism** (honestly Tony Stark can represent so many things but it’s basically big business and all the things associated with that). They want control back over Ordinary Citizens™. Because TFAW is all well and good but only when the Government says it’s needed.

Well that’s no good right? Because the Insidious Evil is still a Threat. So the people who follow TFAW need to fight those who follow Capitalism . And what’s this? Immigrants betray the Capitalism because they want to follow TFAW. Well we can’t have that can we? So now are Invaders™ and outlawed, Ordinary Citizens™ can’t be tolerated and we have a maximum security prison in the ocean for anyone who disagrees. 

Now that TFAW and Capitalsm are at odds, and Capitalism are taking over, we have now move on to Infinity War. Here we have A Dude™ saying nature doesn’t have enough resources and he needs to save everyone by killing a bunch of people (population control/culling). Well Capitalism has to stop that! Except that Capitalism can’t be sacrificed to stop the genocide and TFAW isn’t strong enough to stop it. 

So now you have a post apocalypse. TFAW is still here but he’s tired. He’s no longer relevant and he’s powerless to help anybody except to the huddled few who are still looking for something to have faith in. Capitalism has done what it always does. The Rich are fine. Sure they’ve had to downsize a bit, they’re living off the land but they’re gonna rebuild. They’ve lost people but they can make more people. They’ll do better next time right? 

Except

What if they could go back? What if they could undo it, fight together this time? What if this time was different? 

Enter End Game.

First, Capitalism needs to say goodbye to its predecessors. They weren’t bad people; they were trying to make the world better. The front runners of invention. They just didn’t know about the consequences. 

And in order to stop the genocide Capitalism must be sacrificed. He dies to save everyone. Everyone is saved. Except that’s not enough. 

TFAW needs to go too in order to truly diffuse the threat. He goes back to where he belongs. The past. 

But now what? If Capitalism is defunct and TFAW is a relic of a bygone era, who is our new hero? 

The Kids are Our Future™ 

Why it’s the Boy Next Door***, the kid from the boroughs of New York who stands up for the little guy, the heir to Capitalism with all it’s technology but none of the ego. 

Global law enforcement isn’t the way. No instead we have your Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman. A hero for the people. A hero who isn’t just for the people but of the people. He protects his neighbourhood, his family, his friends. He knows what they need because he is them. He is the future. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Bucky alone is worth an essay about the role of Russia as an ally and later an enemy of the USA. 

**Tony Stark is an interesting study on his own, because he represents the many facets of capitalism. In his early iterations, he’s the billionaire who made his fortune by hurting other people but it’s ok because he “didn’t know”. Later he’s more the Elon Musk type, trying to one man show his way to a cleaner future (but failing obvs). He doesn’t want to change the system, he just wants to influence it in a better direction. His death as the way to prevent genocide (or not as the case for Infinity War) is honestly inspired as an analogy for the way capitalism needs to die to prevent global warming and the environmental crisis. 

***Having Spiderman inherit the MCU is also perfect because he’s a good blend of Iron Man and Captain America. He’s very Cap in his values. He wants to protect people, he doesn’t necessarily respect the system, but he cares about people in a way Tony doesn’t because Tony has never really been ‘people’. He works with other well in a team and has more empathy and compassion than Tony does. (I already know I’ll get hate for saying that if nothing else). But he’s also Iron Mans heir in terms of using technology and smarts to solve problems. He’s much more on the ground and less jaded than Iron Man, but less idealistic than Cap.


End file.
